Looking Beyond the Obvious: Identifying Patterns in Coles Creek Mortuary Data

Megan C. Kassabaum

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

[Paper presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Charlotte, N.C., 2008]

Two characteristics of prehistoric societies in the southeastern United States are

commonly used to support arguments for the presence of chiefly political and social

organization. One of these characteristics is the large-scale construction of earthworks

(particularly large platform mound and plaza complexes); the other is the employment of

elaborate mortuary ceremonialism and sumptuous burial goods. Some claim that the earliest

indications of chiefdoms can be recognized in the indigenous Coles Creek tradition of

southwestern Mississippi and east-central Louisiana. Around A.D. 700, people in this region

began building large-scale earthworks similar to those of later, decidedly hierarchical

Mississippian polities. However, previous investigators of mortuary remains from these Coles

Creek sites report a paucity of burial goods and absence of ornate individual burials (Ford 1951;

Giardino 1977; Neuman 1984).

Due to the distinct presence of one traditional marker for hierarchical social organization

and the reported lack of another, the issue of Coles Creek social differentiation remains a

paradox for Southeastern archaeologists. While a relatively small number of Coles Creek sites

have been satisfactorily excavated, further analysis of data from these previous archaeological

investigations may still reveal significant insights. In this paper, I present a reanalysis of three

previously excavated Coles Creek cemeteries in the Lower Mississippi Valley as a step towards

resolving this paradox (Figure 1). My goals here are to: (1) review the previous interpretations

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of Coles Creek mound building and burial practices; (2) investigate whether meaningful patterns

exist in the burials from Greenhouse, Lake George and Mount Nebo; and (3) offer suggestions as

to how the results of my analyses can be combined with future research to more fully understand

Coles Creek social organization.

The Greenhouse site, located in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, was first described and

excavated by Gerard Fowke in 1926. Twelve years later, Greenhouse was more systematically

excavated as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project directed by James Ford.

Greenhouse consists of seven mounds (A-G) arranged around a central plaza (Figure 2). The

three most prominent mounds (A, E, and G) are roughly rectangular platforms that form a

triangle with the longest axis along the shore of a lake. During the WPA project, three mounds

were heavily excavated: Mounds A, C and F. Excavations in Mounds A and F revealed that the

earthworks were constructed over a thick midden in as many as seven stages, most of which

supported structures (Ford 1951:32-36). Nine burials were recovered from Mound A and two

from Mound F. Mound C differed markedly from Mounds A and F in that it was made up

almost entirely of black midden that had gradually accumulated on the original ground surface.

In addition to the large amount of habitation debris, the upper levels of Mound C contained 93

burials. Although in some cases it is difficult to tell, it appears that most of these burials were

secondary interments of large numbers of people deposited at once, a pattern consistent with the

emptying of a charnel structure (Ford 1951:37, 42-44). A number of distinct spatial clusters may

represent different burial episodes throughout the construction of the mound.

The Lake George site is also situated on the shore of a lake in the Yazoo Basin of west-

central Mississippi (Williams and Brain 1983:1). Though the mounds had deteriorated

significantly by the time C.B. Moore visited Lake George in the early twentieth century, he was

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able to record more than thirty mounds inside the walled, 55-acre site (Moore 1908:590). Now,

only 25 mounds and parts of the earthen wall and ditch complex can be discerned (Figure 3)

(Williams and Brain 1983:1). Excavations at Lake George took place between 1949 and 1960

and included major work on and around Mounds A, C, F and P (Williams and Brain 1983: 23-

68). Excavations revealed that while only a small portion of the earthworks at Lake George

dated to the Coles Creek period, nearly all showed evidence of repeated structural occupations.

A 1958 test unit in Mound C, a Coles Creek mound, revealed 22 burials and hence the truncated,

pyramidal mound became the focus of the 1959 and 1960 excavations (Williams and Brain

1983:39). Built on a thick midden, this two-stage platform mound appeared to have been used

primarily as a burial mound during the first stage and as a foundation for a number of structures

during the second stage (Williams and Brain 1983:55-56). During the one and a half seasons of

excavation at Mound C, approximately 200 skeletons were recovered. Like Greenhouse, burials

appear to have occurred as mass interments such as would result from the periodic emptying of a

charnel house. Again, distinct spatial clustering is visible, though this time clusters are identified

more by depth of deposit and various irregular and ill-defined pits (Williams and Brain 1983:42).

Finally, the Mount Nebo site sits in the Tensas Basin of Madison Parish, Louisiana and

consists of only one mound, approximately 12 ft tall (Giardino 1982:101; Neuman 1968:9).

During salvage excavations in 1968 and 1969, it was determined that this mound was

constructed in seven stages (Giardino 1977:1). Two of these stages are of particular importance

here because together they contained roughly 100 human burials. Giardino (1982:116-118)

notes that during one stage, bodies were most often interred in the extended prone position with

the skull towards the south and during the other, bodies were most often interred in the extended

supine position with the skull towards the north. Giardino’s (1982:117) conclusion that “there

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are significant differences between the burial custom of Stage A and Stage F” represents the first

significant recognition of patterning in the Coles Creek mortuary record.

As these three examples demonstrate, the largest mounds at Coles Creek civic-ceremonial

centers were continuously used for up to several hundred years, they were usually built in stages,

and often, during each stage, at least one structure was erected on top of the mound (Neuman

1984:167; Steponaitis 1986:386). Past interpretations of these buildings as elite residences

and/or important civic-ceremonial structures have led some archaeologists to believe that Coles

Creek sites provide evidence of a significantly more differentiated and institutionalized social

organization than that of earlier Woodland cultures (e.g. Barker 1999; Kidder and Fritz 1993;

Nassaney 1992; Roe 2007; Sears 1954; Steponaitis 1986). They argue that the consistent reuse

of these platform mounds shows the existence of more formal positions of leadership or political

offices by allowing the power associated with them to exceed the life of the individual elite (Roe

2007:25; Schilling 2004:25; Steponaitis 1986:386). Furthermore, they argue that this important

change is also evidenced by changes in the internal plaza-mound structure of Coles Creek centers

(Kidder 2004; Roe 2007:24-25). For example, sites such as Osceola, Raffman, Greenhouse, and

Lake George can be interpreted as showing a trend from open, public plazas to plazas

characterized by purposeful and severe restriction of access (Ford 1951:102; Roe 2007:25;

Schilling 2004:26).

While recent arguments from settlement pattern changes and earthwork construction

seem to lean towards the existence of a more institutionalized social hierarchy during the Coles

Creek period, current understandings of the mortuary record do not appear to support this

conclusion (cf. Barker 1999). While some claim a substantial shift from the inconsistent and

group-oriented burial pattern of the earlier Troyville period during the Coles Creek period, these

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interpretations all come from synthetic articles about Lower Mississippi Valley cultural

chronology and articles specifically devoted to showing Coles Creek settlements as hierarchical

precursors to Mississippian chiefdoms (e.g., Kidder 2002; Neuman 1984; Steponaitis 1986). On

the other hand, the original excavation reports from Coles Creek burial sites are dominated by a

different set of interpretations.

In his report on Greenhouse, Ford (1951:106-107) summarizes the burial practices by

saying:

In each locality the skeletons appear to have been disposed of carelessly: there is no clear evidence that they were intentionally buried … The 93 found in Mound C were apparently all placed at the same time and were in a state of disorder such as might have resulted from a rude and careless emptying of a house of the dead … It can hardly be certain that the Greenhouse finds represent any intentional and planned disposal of the dead.

This sentiment is echoed by Neuman (1984:179) when he states, “It is difficult to think of a

reason for this disorderly array of skeletons.” Likewise, Williams and Brain (1983:45) describe

the burials at Lake George by stating:

There is no marked difference in the burial pattern – if, indeed, one can think in terms of a ‘pattern,’ for the overwhelming characteristic of both layers of burials is the obvious lack of order. The dead seem to have been treated inconsistently and often with minimal care.

Similar descriptions also exist for the Mount Nebo site (Giardino 1977), the Bayou Chene Blanc

midden (Neuman 1984:187), the Pierre Clement site (Neuman 1984:197), the Morton Shell

Mound (Neuman 1984:198-199), and the Diversion Canal site (Neuman 1984:194).

My initial challenge in working with the mortuary records from Greenhouse, Lake

George, and Mount Nebo involved compiling all available data on the skeletal remains in a

manner that would easily allow for comparison and pattern identification. The data from

Greenhouse and Lake George were taken primarily from the published site reports (Ford 1951;

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Williams and Brain 1983) and the later NAGPRA analyses (Peabody Museum of Archaeology

and Ethnology 2000; Rebecca Saunders, personal communication). Data from Mount Nebo were

taken primarily from Marco Giardino’s Tulane University Masters thesis (1977). Although the

original methods for recording the burial type and age-sex data for each of the sites were quite

different, I made every effort to standardize the data without losing any accuracy. For the

purpose of this paper, the following burial types are used: bundle, extended-prone, extended-

supine, extended (unspecified prone or supine), flexed, semiflexed, skull, fragment and

unknown; the age categories of infant, subadult, young adult, middle adult, and old adult are

defined in Table 1.

The goal of my analysis was to see past the lack of grave goods and the absence of

elaborate individual burials that are often used to define status differences in mortuary studies

and instead to focus on other aspects of the burial record. Giardino (1982:100-101) argues that

“burial styles or methods for disposal of the dead are the result of patterned cultural activity and

therefore can be viewed as human artifacts” capable of augmenting our understanding of social

conditions. Following this suggestion, I sought to identify patterns in burial type with regard to

age and sex at Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo. This more extensive and less

common consideration of the “human artifacts” in the burial record is particularly appropriate for

the study of Coles Creek social organization precisely because the burials are routinely lacking in

grave goods and other associated artifacts.

For each site, tabulations (counts and percentages) were made for each burial type by age

and sex. Due to the small number of categories, conclusions about sex-related patterning were

easy to draw from merely looking at these numbers. Each population discussed here represents a

relatively typical demographic profile with regard to sex. Furthermore, there does not appear to

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be any significant difference between the burial programs undergone by men and those

undergone by women (Tables 2-4). The demographic profiles with regard to age however, are

not as consistent. Both Greenhouse and Mount Nebo show markedly low numbers of infants and

subadults while the large number of infants present in the burial population at Lake George is

closer to the expected demographic profile of a prehistoric population (Blakely 1971; Weiss

1973:14-30). While it is impossible to say, given the available data, whether this inconsistency

is the product of taphonomy, differential preservation, discrepancies in excavation technique or

conscious choice on the part of Coles Creek peoples (Hutchinson 2006:159), the inclusion of

infants does suggest a potential difference in the burial practices of the populations at Lake

George as compared to those at Greenhouse and Mount Nebo.

More interesting patterns emerge, however when considering age as it relates to burial

type (Tables 5-7). Due to the larger number of age categories, I carried out a correspondence

analysis on the burials from each site to identify and interpret age-related patterns. In relatively

simple terms, correspondence analysis is a statistical method for identifying the degree to which

the values of one categorical variable (here, age) correlate with the values of another (here, burial

type). By plotting these associations in two-dimensional space, correspondence analysis

produces a graphical representation of the relationships among the variables, such that points that

appear close together or in the same portion of the graph) tend to be positively associated, while

those that are farther apart are either not associated or negatively associated (Shennan 1997:308-

306). For example, looking at the visual representations of the Greenhouse data (Figure 7), a

number of clear associations emerge: infants are buried in the flexed position, subadults are

associated with skull burials, young adults are buried in the semiflexed or bundled positions, and

adults (middle, old and unclassifiable) are associated with the extended position. Similarly clear

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patterns exist when one examines the Lake George data (Figure 8) as well as the Mount Nebo

data (Figure 9).

In addition to the age-related patterns at each individual site, there are interesting

commonalities among the sites (Table 8). For example, at all three sites subadults are associated

with skull burials and adults were most often buried in the extended position. Greenhouse and

Lake George also share strong associations of infants with the flexed position and young adults

with bundle burials. Mount Nebo, however, does not follow either of these patterns. Perhaps an

even more significant pattern becomes obvious when comparing the overall appearance of the

correspondence-analysis graphs. Infants, young adults, and old adults are always the furthest

from the center of the graph even though the specific burial treatments accorded to each category

differ from site to site. In other words, while these three age categories were not treated

consistently from site to site, they were consistently being treated differently from each other and

from everyone else. These comparative observations allow me to draw broader conclusions

about the general mortuary program of the Coles Creek period in the Lower Mississippi Valley

My analysis shows that the mortuary programs at Coles Creek sites were anything but

unpatterned, unintentional, careless, unplanned, and disorderly (cf. Ford 1951; Williams and

Brain 1983). On the contrary, age-related patterning at Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount

Nebo is abundant. In short, the burial data from Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo

represent a mortuary program that: (1) differs from site to site, (2) is characterized by mass

burials such as would result from charnel house cleanings, and (3) consistently expresses age as

the strongest variable in determining burial position. From this I argue that distinct evidence of

institutionalized status differentiation in the Coles Creek burial record is lacking. The distinct

lack of individual interments and emphasis on communal burial seems to minimize the

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importance of the individual in the mortuary program as a whole. That said, the differences that

do exist between individuals of different ages confirm that these mass interments were being

made with some degree of care and consideration for those involved. Nonetheless, patterning

that appears solely based on age can be used as an argument against inherited status—if status

within a society was acquired based on inherited social position rather than on individual

achievement, then one would expect similarities in burial type to crosscut age groups. This

brings us back to the paradox mentioned earlier, i.e., that Coles Creek cultures show evidence of

hierarchy in the form of monumental earthwork construction, but not in mortuary patterning.

There are two potential explanations for this paradox: (1) that institutionalized social

differentiation did not exist and we are misinterpreting the evidence from moundbuilding, and

(2) that institutionalized social differentiation did exist, but is not expressed in the burial program

during this time.

With regard to the first option, I feel compelled to point out the massive earthmoving

ventures of populations commonly accepted as nonhierarchical (e.g., Wisconsin and Iowa’s

Effigy Mound culture [Birmingham and Eisenberg 2000:127-128; Stevenson, et al. 1997; 166-

170], Ohio’s Hopewell culture [Brown 2006:198; Spielmann 2002], and Louisiana’s Poverty

Point culture [Brown 2006:198, Gibson 2000]). Given the high frequency of mound

construction in the Lower Mississippi Valley beginning in the Middle Archaic period, it is

imprudent to use this line of evidence alone to make an argument for institutionalized social

differentiation in the Coles Creek period. Furthermore, we must reconsider some of our

unfounded assumptions about the meanings of these mounds. Thus far, very few Coles Creek

mound-top structures have been satisfactorily excavated and hence, we have very limited data on

which to base our interpretations of their function(s). Whether these structures were used by

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elites as residences or by the general public as communal meeting places should become much

more apparent with more complete examination of the assemblages either from the structures’

floors or from associated flank middens.

With regard to the second option, I think it is imperative to examine and evaluate the

hypothesis that Coles Creek mortuary practices may not reflect, but rather may ideologically

mask (either intentionally or unintentionally) the social differences that existed in life. In

contrast, the later, more elaborate Mississippian mortuary practices may represent the presence

of an ideology that naturalizes rather than masks such differences (see Hodder 1982). Evaluating

this hypothesis will require looking more closely at what other evidence exists for social

differentiation in the archaeological record of the Coles Creek period. I contend that this

research should focus on examinations of differences in diet and health within and among Coles

Creek populations and the separation of elite and commoner areas within and between sites.

If mortuary ritual and other forms of symbolic communication may be manipulated to

disguise social distinctions (Hodder 1982; see also Barker 1999), it is reasonable to expect that

differences in diet and health trends (especially malnutrition) would not be as simple, or

desirable, to manipulate (Cannon 1989:456). While studies of such discrepancies in diet and

health data from previously excavated mortuary remains may be productive, such information

will be much more important if a significant number of nonmound burials are included. The

discovery, excavation, and analysis of such burials, if they exist, would also greatly enhance

future analyses of the relationship between age and sex distributions and burial type like the one

presented here.

Finally, settlement patterns, architectural remains, and subsistence patterns provide

means to look at the separation of subgroups on the landscape, particularly if data from

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nonmound habitation sites are included. For example, comparisons of domestic assemblages

from a variety of Coles Creek sites may or may not expose telling material and architectural

differences between groups utilizing the mound and plaza complexes and those living at smaller,

outlying sites. Moreover, the excavation of different site types may allow us to identify hitherto

undiscovered sets of nonmound burials that may represent a different subgroup of the population

altogether (see discussion in Barker 1999 and Black 1979:98-101).

While this paper has ended (like many archaeological analyses do) in a call for further

research in order to appropriately answer the broader questions, my analysis has two very

important conclusions. First, I demonstrate that despite claims to the contrary, there is distinct

patterning in the Coles Creek mortuary record. Abundant age-related patterns attest that the

people at Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo were not interring their dead randomly

and without care; instead, they were following distinct patterns in selecting the burial type

associated with each individual. Second, I conclude that, while this patterning may not indicate

institutionalized status differentiation, we must look elsewhere for evidence of such social

demarcation before drawing further conclusions as to the degree of status achieved by

individuals in the Coles Creek period. In other words, we, as archaeologists, must be willing to

see burial practices as only one part of a much larger social process.

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Figures

Figure 1: Map of the Lower Mississippi Valley showing associated river basins and the location of the three sites used in this analysis (adapted from Brain 1991: Figure 5.2).

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Figure 2: Map of the Greenhouse Site showing the topography, locations of the different mounds and areas excavated (from Ford 1951: Figure 3).

Figure 6: Map of the Lake George Site showing topography, locations of the different mounds and areas excavated (from Williams and Brain 1983: Figure 1.2).

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Figure 7: Biplot of the correspondence analysis from the Greenhouse site showing the burial

types on the left and age categories on the right. Points that appear close together (or in the same portion of the graph) are positively associated.

Figure 8: Biplot of the correspondence analysis from the Lake George site showing the burial

types on the left and age categories on the right. Points that appear close together (or in the same portion of the graph) are positively associated.

Kassabaum 15

Figure 9: Biplot of the correspondence analysis from the Mount Nebo site showing the burial types on the left and age categories on the right. Points that appear close together (or in the same portion of the graph) are positively associated.

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Tables Table 1: The age estimation system employed in this paper. Note: For some sites in which

distinctions were not originally drawn between the subcategories of adults, the category “Adult” will be used to imply any individual over 18 years of age.

Age Category Age Estimate

Infant 0-5 years Subadult 6-17 years

Young Adult (Adult 1) 18-30 years Middle Adult (Adult 2) 31-50 years

Old Adult (Adult 3) Over 51 years Table 2: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Greenhouse with respect to sex. GREENHOUSE Bundle Extended Flexed Semiflexed Skul1 Unknown Total

Male 3 (13%) 9 (39%) 3 (13%) 3 (13%) 4 (17%) 1 (4%) 23 (23%) Female 4 (14%) 22 (76%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 29 (30%)

Unknown 11 (26%) 8 (19%) 5 (12%) 1 (2%) 12 (28%) 6 (14%) 43 (44%) Total 20 (20%) 39 (40%) 8 (8%) 6 (6%) 16 (16%) 9 (9%) 98 (100%)

Table 3: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Lake George with respect to sex.

LAKE GEORGE

Bundle Extended-prone

Extended-supine

Flexed Fragment Skul1 Total

Male 3 (14%) 4 (19%) 9 (43%) 1 (5%) 1 (5%) 3 (14%) 21 (11%) Female 0 (0%) 7 (70%) 3 (30%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 10 (5%)

Unknown 13 (8%) 16 (10%) 82 (53%) 9 (6%) 18 (12%) 18 (12%) 156 (83%) Total 16 (9%) 27 (14%) 94 (50%) 10 (5%) 19 (10%) 21 (11%) 187 (100%)

Table 4: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Mount Nebo with respect to sex. MOUNT NEBO

Bundle Extended-prone

Extended-supine

Flexed Semiflexed Skull Unknown Total

Male 5 (21%) 5 (21%) 6 (25%) 3 (13%) 1 (4%) 1 (4%) 3 (13%) 24 (26%) Female 9 (38%) 6 (25%) 5 (21%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 1 (4%) 2 (8%) 24 (26%)

Unknown 7 (16%) 5 (11%) 13 (29%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (17%) 12 (27%) 45 (48%) Total 21 (23%) 16 (17%) 23 (25%) 3 (3%) 2 (2%) 10 (11%) 17 (18%) 93 (100%)

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Table 5: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Greenhouse with respect to age.

GREENHOUSE Bundle Extended Flexed Semiflexed Skull Unknown Total

Infant 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (75%) 0 (0%) 1 (25%) 0 (0%) 4 (4%) Subadult 2 (12%) 3 (18%) 2 (12%) 1 (6%) 6 (35%) 3 (18%) 17 (17%)

Adult (total) 13 (21%) 31 (49%) 2 (3%) 5 (8%) 7 (11%) 5 (8%) 63 (64%) Young 4 (44%) 2 (22%) 1 (11%) 2 (22%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9 (9%) Middle 1 (7%) 11 (73%) 0 (0%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 15 (15%)

Old 0 (0%) 3 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (3%) Unknown 5 (36%) 5 (36%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%) 2 (14%) 1 (7%) 14 (14%)

Total 25 (20%) 55 (44%) 9 (7%) 9 (7%) 17 (14%) 10 (8%) 125 (100%) Table 6: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Lake George with respect to age.

LAKE GEORGE

Bundle Extended-prone

Extended-supine

Flexed Fragment Skull Total

Infant 3 (4%) 3 (4%) 49 (62%) 7 (9%) 11 (14%) 6 (8%) 79 (42%) Subadult 1 (7%) 3 (20%) 4 (27%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 5 (33%) 15 (8%)

Adult (total) 10 (13%) 21 (27%) 36 (46%) 2 (3%) 3 (4%) 7 (9%) 79 (42%) Young 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (1%) Middle 0 (0%) 1 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (>1%)

Old 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 2 (1%) Unknown 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (100%) 1 (>1%)

Total 14 (8%) 29 (16%) 91 (51%) 10 (6%) 15 (8%) 20 (11%) 179 (100%) Table 7: Numbers (and percentages) of burial positions at Mount Nebo with respect to age.

MOUNT NEBO

Bundle Extended-prone

Extended-supine

Flexed Semiflexed Skull Unknown Total

Infant 1 (17%) 1 (17%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (33%) 2 (33%) 6 (6%) Subadult 5 (31%) 1 (6%) 3 (19%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (31%) 2 (13%) 16 (17%)

Adult (total) 13 (26%) 10 (20%) 14 (28%) 3 (6%) 2 (4%) 2 (4%) 7 (14%) 51 (54%) Young 5 (33%) 2 (13%) 6 (40%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (7%) 15 (16%) Middle 5 (26%) 4 (21%) 5 (26%) 2 (11%) 1 (5%) 2 (11%) 0 (0%) 19 (20%)

Old 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 0 (0%) 1 (25%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (4%) Unknown 1 (5%) 4 (20%) 7 (35%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 7 (35%) 20 (22%)

Total 31 (24%) 23 (18%) 36 (27%) 6 (5%) 4 (3%) 12 (9%) 19 (15%) 131 (100%)

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Table 8: Summary of the burial type associations with regard to age for Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo. Key associations that crosscut two or more sites are shown in bold.

Infant Subadult Adult Young Adult

Middle Adult

Old Adult

Greenhouse flexed skull extended bundle/ semiflexed extended extended

Lake George

flexed/ extended

(supine) skull

extended (prone)/ bundle

bundle/ extended (prone)

--- Skull

Mount Nebo skull skull extended/ flexed

extended/ flexed extended semiflexed

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